Executive Summary

Thomas S. Buchanan is the George W. Laird Professor of Mechanical Engineering. He received a BS from UCSD in Applied Mechanics & Engineering Sciences (Bioengineering) and a PhD in Theoretical & Applied Mechanics from Northwestern University. After doing a post-doc at MIT in Brain & Cognitive Sciences, he was given a faculty appointment back at Northwestern in the Department of Physical Medicine & Rehabilitation and had a lab at the Rehabilitation Institute of Chicago. From there he moved to the University of Delaware's Department of Mechanical Engineering and became Director of the Center for Biomechanical Engineering Research. He also served as Academic Director of UD's interdisciplinary Biomechanics & Movement Science graduate program. Buchanan served as Chairman of UD's Department of Mechanical Engineering and as Deputy Dean of the College of Engineering before being appointed the inaugural Director of the Delaware Rehabilitation Institute. Outside of UD, he has served as Editor-in-Chief of the Journal of Applied Biomechanics and as President of the American Society of Biomechanics. Buchanan holds the rank of Fellow in the American Society of Mechanical Engineers (ASME), American Institute of Medical and Biological Engineering (AIMBE) and the American College of Sports Medicine (ACSM). Buchanan has been principal investigator on over $25m of NIH research grants.